


silent night

by OhHeyAl



Category: Free!
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-08
Updated: 2016-01-08
Packaged: 2018-05-12 12:32:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5666167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OhHeyAl/pseuds/OhHeyAl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A quiet night in the Tachibana-Nanase household. (In which they’re still in college but they’re practically married, let’s be honest.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	silent night

**Author's Note:**

> This was my gift to i-swear-im-insane over on tumblr for the Free! Secret Santa. I hope everyone had a lovely holiday!

Makoto had always been the bigger person in their relationship. Not just literally but in every sense of the word. He was always the one waiting for Haru at the bottom of the steps or even pulling him out of the bath in the morning. He was the one who took care of Haru when he was sick. The one who held his hand while walking through a crowd so they wouldn’t lose each other.

(It was just because Haru was so short he could get lost easily. Definitely not because Makoto just wanted to hold his hand.)

As the years blurred together, it gets hard to tell when Makoto and Haru’s relationship… _developed._ From general words of encouragement to promises of always staying together. From missed side glances to cautious kisses. There were things that changed and things that… never had to.

Like how Haru still cooks mackerel for breakfast while Makoto insists he can prepare food too. Or how Haru still walks on the side that’s closest to the ocean because he knows Makoto still gets anxious sometimes. It’s these things that often go unnoticed in the steady routine they’ve carefully fallen into.

Makoto was always the steady one. He was the one who knew what he wanted to do before anyone else. And Haru was always unsure. He didn’t want anything else other than to swim. But that was before he realized that he wanted _and needed_ Makoto too. Just the thought of him being away in another city tore at Haru.

But Haru always felt trapped while Makoto was so eager to move forward. He couldn’t understand it. Why he felt like there was nothing for him in the future. But it was Makoto. It was always Makoto who kept him moving. Who put up with him and believed in him while Haru was wallowing in doubt.

It was Makoto who he followed all the way to Tokyo.

* * *

Haru wakes up in the middle of the night when he hears Makkou whining and pawing at his dangling arm. 

Haru had insisted they name their dog after Makoto since he was the one who found him but after hours of Makoto turning him down, he finally acquiesced to their compromise. But Makoto still has a nagging feeling that Haru only wanted to name the dog after him because hearing _“Makoto, sit. Makoto, stay. Good boy, Makoto,”_ is just about about the weirdest thing.

It isn’t rare that Haru finds amusement in Makoto’s embarrassment after all.

* * *

_“So, have you decided on a name?”  Makoto asks._

_“Makoto.”_

_“Eh?”_

_“Makoto found it first, so Makoto.”_

_“The same name as mine?” Makoto isn’t sure why Haru’s insisting on this. He doesn’t even have a clue if Haru is being serious or if he’s just joking because the other boy’s face doesn’t change from his deadpan look._

_Haru completely ignores Makoto and continues to tease the boy, without ever losing pace. “Feeding Makoto, training Makoto. I know, let’s teach it tricks, too. Makoto sit, Makoto paw, Makoto stay. Also, I have to dispose of Makoto’s poop—”_

_“W-wait, stop it already. Please, let’s name it something else. I know, it’s black so something like Kujira—”_

_“Makkou.”_

_“Ah, like the makkou kujira… huh. But it really does feel like my name’s in it—”_

_“Makkou.”_

* * *

It isn’t unusual, waking up to their dog’s whining. It didn’t take long for the two boys to figure out that Makkou was a needy and clingy puppy who sometimes wanted to sleep in their bed. But this time was different. Haru could feel the empty space beside him, meaning Makoto either woke up to get some water or hasn’t slept at all. Haru glances at his bedside clock and groans at the time.  _3AM. Geez, Makoto._

Haru makes his way to their living room, Makkou dutifully leading the way, and discovers a sleeping Makoto, half buried under piles of schoolwork. His glasses are sitting askew on the bridge of his nose, one hand clenched around a cup of coffee that had gone cold hours ago, the other cushioning his head, neck bent towards the table.

Haru just shakes his head and proceeds to clean up after the other boy. Makoto isn’t usually this messy but finals week has him acting out of the ordinary. Lately his things have been all over the place and he’s been forgetting to actually eat and drink anything other than protein bars and mugs of coffee.

* * *

_“Haru, have you seen my glasses?” Makoto peeks into the bedroom where Haru had been taking a nap. Haru glances up, disgruntled because his sleep was disturbed. He stifles a laugh when he sees Makoto’s glasses perched on his head where he couldn’t see them._

_“No idea.”_

_Makoto spends the next few minutes searching their bedroom until Haru has finally had his fill of watching his boyfriend struggling. He leans over the edge of the bed while Makoto is looking underneath it and pushes Makoto’s glasses from his head onto his nose. Makoto pulls back, puzzled, then looks up at Haru. He can’t keep the frown on his face as they both dissolve into laughter._

_Haru’s going to miss this absentminded Makoto. But he can’t wait for this week to be over so he can finally spend time with him._

* * *

Haru smiles softly at the memory while plucking the glasses from Makoto’s face. His nose scrunches up slightly, feeling the disturbance, and Haru just runs his fingers through Makoto’s hair to get him back to sleep.

Finally finished with putting the papers away and cleaning up the piles of forgotten dishes in the kitchen sink, Haru faces his biggest dilemma. Makoto had always been the bigger person in their relationship and the literalness of the saying is made much more obvious now. He can’t really carry Makoto onto the couch, never mind carrying him all the way to the bedroom.

So he does the only thing he _can_ do. He brings the _bed_ to _Makoto._

Makkou follows him around the apartment as Haru goes back and forth from their bedroom to the living room, carrying piles of pillows and blankets in his arms. He arranges them into a makeshift nest, making sure Makoto is bundled enough to protect him from the December chill.

He watches his boyfriend for a minute, curled up like a cat in the middle of their living room floor. Makkou had already taken his place at the foot of their pile of blankets and is also close to drifting off to sleep. Haru smiles at the picture. He’d never really hoped enough that he would get this in the end.

* * *

_“Haruka-senpai has been in love before?” Rei asks, leaning closer to whisper to Makoto._

_“Erm, I have no idea,” Makoto replies, honestly. He really doesn’t know what goes on in his best friend’s head sometimes. He’d like to think that he’s better at reading Haru than most people but still, it wasn’t very easy._

_As Haru launches off with his ode to the pristine waterfall, he can’t help but picture Makoto in his head. Makoto, who just hours ago almost died. In his arms. With his cold body pressed up against Haru’s. He almost didn’t know what to do._

_‘Have I ever been in love?’_

_At that moment Haru thought about what he almost lost that day. And he couldn’t bear it. Underneath his love for water, Haru knew. He knew he loved Makoto. So much that he couldn’t even entertain the thought of almost losing him._

_He smiles to himself as the three other boys sigh in frustration, thinking that they never should have believed Haru would actually take the game seriously. Amidst Nagisa’s pestering and Rei’s proclamations, he catches Makoto gazing at him, mild curiosity written all over his face._

_Haru has to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing out loud._

* * *

Haru lies down next to Makoto, throwing a blanket over himself and burrowing deeper into their nest. He can already hear Makkou’s soft snoring by their feet, while Makoto has managed to find Haru’s body heat and automatically shuffles closer.

In the midst of Makoto’s insane finals week and Haru’s hectic training schedule, this was desperately needed. This quiet moment of just being _together_ in each other’s presence. Makoto mumbles something incoherent in his sleep as he buries his head into the junction of Haru’s chin and shoulder, while their legs manage to tangle up almost immediately.

Haru sighs against Makoto’s hair, finally feeling at peace. Like they managed to make the whole world stop spinning for just a few hours. Just a few hours for rest. The mass of limbs and body heat feels like home.

It’s hard to imagine either of them being the bigger one in the relationship, in the figurative sense. Not when all they do is care about the other as much as they possibly can. And Haru finally, _finally,_ understands that.

**Author's Note:**

> Credits to [this post](http://right---meow.tumblr.com/post/118471015844/makoharu-quotes-from-hs2) where i got the conversation for one of the flashbacks!


End file.
